Campus Groove Recordings
In May 1999, four CSB+SJU students created an independent club, Campus Groove Recordings (CGR). The founders were SJU sophomores Michael Halverson, Ken Dalley, and Todd Weinhold, with CSB Senior Kristin Sawyer. It was Halverson’s brainchild, which started in December 1998. On the board of consultants was George Maurer. The goal of the club was to produce a record every two years to highlight current student bands/musicians or alumni. All submissions were to be original works. All proceeds were used to cover production costs and any leftover was used to put on a concert with all the musicians featured on the CD.
CGR released its first album on March 14, 2000. There were twenty members of staff advised by Greg Walker, a professor from the Music department. The first CD featured 14 student tracks and one track from the George Maurer Group (GMG). There were over 60 submissions, which were coded for anonymity. The album featured pop, rock, heavy metal, and ska. Most of the tracks were recorded at Rockhouse Productions in St. Joseph.
On February 12, 2001, CGR sponsored a GMG concert at Brother Willie’s Pub, Maurer would be featured on the upcoming 2002 album. On November 30, 2001, CGR sponsored the Mason Jennings Band concert, which opened with student performers, Matt Merten and Cloud Nine.
On April 5, 2002, CGR released its second album at a CD release party. 14 bands were selected from the 36 bands that applied. The album had a special guest appearance by George Maurer. Matt Merten was featured on this album, as was Breaker, Breaker. CGR hosted Maurer in concert on February 2002. Maurer supported CGR since its creation. CGR also started sponsoring “Groovin’ At the Grounds” which was a student concert at the Meeting Grounds of St. Joseph. Merten played at the March Groovin’ at the Grounds Concert. Another concert CGR sponsored in 2002, was “Fat Tuesday at the Pub with George Maurer.”
On March 23, 2002, Campus Groove Recordings sponsored and held a concert at Haehn Fun Fest. The concert featured artists from their albums, including Bob Schneewels, Adam Jacobs/Drop, Echo Union, and 2nd Hand Halo.
In 2003, Michael Halverson the founder of CGR, was now acting as the advisor of CGR. CGR was accepting submissions for their upcoming album until October 20th with selections being made by November 20th. In the academic year 2003-2004, Groovin’ at the Grounds concerts happened once a month on Wednesday evenings at the St. Joseph Meeting Grounds. The concerts featured campus artists, but not all of them were on the CD released in the spring of 2004. The first Groovin’ at the Grounds concert occurred on October 15, 2003, with Nick Frost and Compton as well as Kevin Henry.
CGR sponsored a Matt Nathanson concert on February 13, 2004. March 12, 2004, the third CD release party was held at Br. Willie’s Pub. They sold around 200 albums at the party. The musicians featured on Volume II were Quietdrive, Sarah Hegg, Exit Aurora, Devlyn Stubbs, Billy in 4C, Fred Savage & the Unbeatables, Bro Willie’s Brass Band, Massyka, Third Wheel, Sneaker 2 Bombs, Fluto and Marinac, Matt Blum, John Kamman, Tricia Loehr. A few of the bands, The Contest, D.O.C.T.R.I.N.E., Fred Savage & the Unbeatables, and Third Wheel played at the Battle of the Bands that year.
On September 4, 2004, CGR sponsored a concert at SJU which starred The Beautiful Girls band, with Brenda Weiler opening for them. The next concert they sponsored in 2005 on February 13, at the Steven B. Humphrey Theater featured The Clerks. On September 15, 2005, CGR, Joint Events Council (JEC), and KJNB radio station sponsored a concert with Bob Schneider and Tim Mahoney.
CGR began preparing for their fourth album in the fall of 2005. Demos were due November 4th, with final selections on December 5th. The album was released on March 25, 2006.
2006 was CGR’s 8th anniversary. There were fifteen bands on the track and eight played the release party with free pizza, root beer floats, and a 21+ area. This occurred during little siblings’ weekend, so everyone was encouraged to bring their little siblings to the release party. The CDs were on sale for $7 and anyone who bought a CD at the party was entered to win an iPod Nano and Best Buy or iTunes gift certificates. There were concerns about the future of the club, as every member of CGR was graduating except one executive board member and one general board member.
The club, like all campus clubs were met with budget cuts in the academic year 2006-2007, which made things more difficult. There is a mention of a CD coming out in the spring of 2007, but no further details were given. The last mention of CGR was in the fall of 2011, in which they were accepting demos until Thanksgiving.
